Case study: How Mizuho works with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices

Stakeholder identification and consultation

Please describe which stakeholders (or groups/ types of stakeholders) you have identified, consulted, engaged, collaborated or partnered with for the purpose of implementing the Principles and improving your bank’s impacts. This should include a high-level overview of how your bank has identified relevant stakeholders, what issues were addressed/results achieved and how they fed into the action planning process.

Mizuho’s stakeholders include customers, shareholders, employees, regional / local communities, suppliers, competitors, and government authorities.

• Customers: Mizuho’s initiatives, listed in Sections 3.1 and 3.2 of its report, led to progress on the targets in Section 2.2.
• Shareholders: Mizuho deepened mutual understanding through dialogue on its initiatives regarding the environment and society at the Annual General Meeting, the Investors Day, and online meetings with investors in and outside Japan.
• Employees: Based on the recognition that it is important for employees to have adequate knowledge about sustainability in general and to think of sustainability from their own perspectives, Mizuho has strengthened training and awareness-raising activities for both executives and employees, carrying out sustainability training for all employees, sending messages from the Group Chief Executive Officer and Group Chief Sustainability Officer (CSuO), disseminating information via the company intranet and SNS, initiating CSuO dialogues (opinion exchange meeting by department), and holding events with outside speakers.
• Suppliers: Mizuho seeks understanding and cooperation from its suppliers as regards environmental friendliness and respect for human rights, based on the Procurement Policy.
• Competitors, government authorities: Mizuho strengthened its responses to the environment and climate change through various partnerships and supports policies for just transition by governments through activities in the regions where Mizuho operates, economic and industry associations and various initiatives.

How did Mizuho work with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities?

In its 2023 Principles for Responsible Banking Reporting and Self-Assessment Template Mizuho reports that it works with its clients and customers to encourage sustainable practices and enable sustainable economic activities as follows:

Mizuho has established an Environmental and Social Management Policy for Financing and Investment Activity with the aim of preventing and mitigating adverse impacts on the environment and society resulting from its financing and investment activity, which stipulates that Mizuho’s front office engages with its clients in the specific sectors at least once a year. Mizuho engaged with approximately 1,100 clients in FY2022.

Additionally, Mizuho engages with customers to promote initiatives toward structural transformations in the economy and industry and practical applications of new technologies. In FY2022, Mizuho engaged with approximately 1,700 clients (around 1,000 of which were climate-related engagements).

UN Principles for Responsible Banking: Accelerating a positive global transition for people and the planet

With over 300 signatory banks representing almost half of the global banking industry, the Principles for Responsible Banking are the world’s foremost sustainable banking framework. Through these Principles, the banking community takes action to align core strategies, decision-making, lending and investment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and international agreements such as the Paris Climate Agreement.

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The combination of all the above empowers FBRH to provide first class Principles for Responsible Banking (PRB) assurance services.

References:

This case study is based on published information by Mizuho, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link:

https://www.mizuhogroup.com/binaries/content/assets/pdf/mizuhoglobal/sustainability/overview/management/international-agreements/responsible_banking.pdf

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